On May 16th 2012, the Czech Post has released two new illustrated postcards commemorating respectively the 800th anniversary of the death of Queen Dagmar of Denmark and the 70th anniversary of Operation Anthropoid.

These two prepaid cards (selling price of 25 Kč) are franked with permanent rate 'E' stamps corresponding to an ordinary letter up to 20g to European countries, i.e. currently 20 Kč.

The painter and graphic artist Renáta Fučíková has designed the first card below as well as the special postmark available only in Prague on the first day of issue, featuring a horseman-shaped tin oil lamp dating from 12th or 13th century.

Thank you very much Bret for these two very interesting philatelic items, as usual :-)

The stamp above depicts an imagined portrait of Queen Dagmar of Denmark, born in 1186 and who died in 1212 (or 1213) in Ribe, Denmark. This town of Ribe is known for its intense wind symbolized by the queen's hair flying in the wind on this stamp, with also the royal arms of Bohemia and Denmark in the background.

Queen Dagmar was in fact the Princess Margaret of Bohemia (daughter of King Ottokar I of Bohemia) and became queen of Denmark by marrying King Valdemar II of Denmark in 1205.

Dagmar, thanks to her beauty, was very popular in Denmark and at the announcement of her death, people were in mourning for many years...

The illustrated part of this card to the left evokes a representation of that time with Queen Dagmar on her deathbed. The text at the bottom ("Queen Dagmar first wife of King Valdemar II") are the exact words chiselled on her tombstone in the St. Bendt's Church in Ringsted, the Royal Church where are buried many Danish monarchs of that time.

The other card above is devoted to the 70th anniversary of Operation Anthropoid. This code's name was used for an Operation attempting to assassinate the Nazi leader Reinhard Heydrich, the SS # 2 and protector of Bohemia and Moravia during the Second World War.

The goal of this Operation was to show the international community that Czechoslovak people did not come to terms with Nazi occupation and fully supported the efforts of the allies to defeat them.

On May 27, 1942, the Heydrich's car (Mercedes Benz 320) was attacked by Czech members of the group Anthropoid, Jan Kubiš and Jozef Gabčík, whose portraits appear on the stamp.

The Sten gum used by Gabčík jammed and a grenade was then tossed by Kubiš that fell off the car but nevertheless wounded Heydrich, who died eight days later.

Finding shelter in an Orthodox church in Prague, Gabčík and Kubiš were killed by the Gestapo on June 18, 1942.

This operation, the only successful assassination of a Nazi official of the third Reich, had however some terrible repercussions in the country with nearly 15,000 people murdered in reaction to this assassination.

The card's illustration above to the left shows Heydrich's car after the attack, kept today in the Military history Museum of Prague.

It is worth noting, at the bottom left, the signature of Pavel Sivko who has designed both the stamp and the card !